Mercy Hospital strikes a perfect balance in expanding its exemplary work in changing the healthcare industry, etched with a strong value system to serve the needy. Since 1977, Mercy Hospital is one of the leading healthcare organisation with its presence not only in Kolkata but also in the rural areas of West Bengal. It has aligned itself in the process to spread healthcare to the remote areas of the state. The NABH-accredited organisation has a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, partners with long standing well wishers and education based institutions from across the globe.
Sanjay Prasad who is at the helm of affairs of Mercy Hospital as its President and CEO for over a decade, took up the challenge of creating a turn around by sustaining and growing the organisation. Sanjay has a Masters in Healthcare Administration and Healthcare Delivery Management from Harvard Business School. On its journey from a small clinic to a 173-bed facility, Mercy Hospital provides a ‘marked to market’ price treatment model for sustainability and most importantly to serve the underprivileged of the society.
The hospital is committed to serve people with it’s vision ‘Compassion with Excellence,’ making healthcare affordable to its patients and the innovative leadership combine to make Mercy Hospital a model healthcare network. Set up by visionaries, Mercy Hospital over the last four decades offers a variety of services including a complete surgical facility (General surgery, orthopaedic, obstetrics, gynaecology and neuro-surgery), three critical care units (ICCU, ITU, NICU), a mother and child centre, an emergency centre followed by a medical and general centres.
Mercy Hospital not only caters to the city’s population but the entire state. Patients from districts like Malda, Midnapore, Burdwan, Birbhum, Bongaon, Asansol, Purulia and North Bengal access the services of Mercy Hospital. Patients from neighbouring states like Odisha and Jharkhand and neighbouring countries like Bangladesh also visit the hospital.
Since 1979, Mercy Hospital operates a School of Nursing, which is affiliated to West Bengal Nursing Council and recognised by The Indian Nursing Council. West Bengal Government empanelled Mercy Hospital as a Class- I Medical Service Provider in the year 2011.
Mercy Hospital is Accredited by NABH and also certified by NABH Nursing Excellence. There is a wave of opportunity in the Indian healthcare sector. Existing delivery models are being reinvented by providers to bring healthcare closer to the patient. The industry which has seen a massive growth will in the next five years grow to new heights.
Mercy Hospital is optimistic that the initiatives taken up by the government at the Centre like National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Ayushman Bharat and others would help in spreading basic health services to under-privileged section of the society and help in upgrading the basic healthcare and make medical services more affordable for the poor in the coming five years. Hence, factors like these frugal innovations in healthcare technology will catalyse the growth of the healthcare sector in the coming years.
The road ahead
As India’s healthcare industry continues to evolve, it is clear that opportunities exist for all be it entrepreneurs, investors and experts. The coming years will see a great out-of-the-box thinking by the strategists in the field of healthcare, beginning with the way healthcare is delivered. To begin with, a rise in retail clinics, single speciality, secondary and tertiary care centres are seen coming to the fore. The tier II and III cities will become attractive to the healthcare players, especially because of tax sops and increasing disposable incomes among Indian families across the country and dearth of quality healthcare infrastructure in these locations.
The shift will be towards brown fields and JVs rather than on greenfield expansions, for an easier and quick entry into the targeted locations. Technology in the last two decades has transformed the way healthcare is delivered. It will continue to play a decisive role in bringing quality in healthcare, be it better nursing communication systems, patient monitoring devices, imaging or telemedicine to provide low cost diagnosis to remote patients. Facilities like 128-slice CT Scan, MRI with in-bore experience, pneumatic chutes, PACS, automated laboratories, health related software and management tools, Android & Apple mobile apps will soon become very popular in both public and private healthcare institutions.
Serving the community
As a part of its social responsibility, Mercy Hospital has initiated ‘Project Rhino’ which provides disadvantaged children with basic education, nutrition and healthcare. In 2014, the initiative covered 700 children in Kolkata and its surrounding areas, in the age group of 3 to 16 years.
Mercy Hospital collaborated with Smile Train (a US-based organisation providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lip and palates), which was started in 2004 as a specialised programme. The hospital has successfully operated on over 1300 children needing a cleft lip and palate repair. The plastic surgery team has become a champion of this initiative and their commitment has transformed many a child’s life. Keeping in mind the need to provide comprehensive care to these children, work in undertaken with children and their families to provide speech therapy and dental work, when necessary.
Over the years, Mercy Hospital has also provided care to children suffering with Thalassemia. Every month there are close to 125 children who are receiving consultation at the highest clinical. Mercy Hospital has collaborated with Christian Medical College, Vellore. The hospital is successfully running the Post Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (PGDFM) programme for doctors since 2008. The ongoing efforts has also culminated in Mercy Hospital running the Certified Course on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (CCGDM) in collaboration with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Education Academy.